December 2007 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

Re: Dont loose the north
by Tom Clark, K3IO 31 Dec '07

31 Dec '07

With all this discussion about Polaris, I thought you might find a couple of photos I took back in 2002 that shows you that the earth's spin axis is close to, but not precisely at Alpha UMi. Take a look at http://www.pbase.com/tomcat/aurora. The right-hand picture (http://www.pbase.com/tomcat/image/5186538)shows how the stars move over about 4 hours. The star nearest the center of the arcs is Polaris; if it was precisely at the pole, then the arc would have been a point. You may also find the animated GIF photos of a (relatively) rare low-latitude (Maryland) Aurora interesting. 73 & Happy New Year -- Tom

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Making your own rotator controller
by Andrew Rich 31 Dec '07

31 Dec '07

A friend of mine is struggling with antenna rotator controllers, so I would like to help out and build one for the both of us. I did some experiementing a while back, where I sent a PIC chip a three digit azimuth value. The code I wrote turned the "123" into a binary 8 bit value. This was then compared with the position (or ADC voltage) of a PIC. I am wondering if it might be simpler to convert the three digit value that comes from say predict under linux, to an 8 bit number before sending it to the PIC. I often give it a start character, such as a "#" So I would be sending "#A" (decimal 10) to the PIC instead of having to convert "#010" in the PIC itself Comments ? Experiences ? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Rich VK4TEC vk4tec(a)people.net.au http://www.tech-software.net

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KiwiSAT Support
by Terry Carrell 31 Dec '07

31 Dec '07

Update! It has been exciting to write personally to all who responded so positively to our call for help with progressing KiwiSAT to the flight-ready completion status. While we have yet to reach our funding target the help received has been quite tremendous. Encouragingly the donations have been both large and small, all gratefully received. It is the combination of number and quality of assistance which is so rewarding way down here in the South Pacific. KiwiSAT will carry the names and callsigns of all who contribute; this is a way of making sure you can get into space. From an earlier activity I know that my name is in orbit, I have the photo proof proudly displayed in my shack. If you would like to have your name on that list just visit our funding page at http://kiwisat.org/funding.html . Over the next few days we at AMSAT-ZL will be working to bring the latest news of our efforts to you all via our www.kiwisat.org site. We'll update the donations information and bring you some new pictures. The hope is that a regular visit will prove interesting to all involved. If you are wondering about the funding process perhaps I should point out that we have broken this down into three phases. Firstly we want to complete the basic unit to flight-ready status. The second phase is to populate the surface with solar cells. This process has been identified and the costs isolated. We already have a third of our requirements in a special account ring-fenced for this purpose. A further source of funding for this phase has been identified and will be used in due course. Lastly, the launch. Again we have identified two sponsors and are firm in the understanding that there is no way that KiwiSAT will sit on a shelf - it will FLY! By the way, there are no administration costs associated with KiwiSAT, all meeting and other expenses being paid from our own pockets. Its great to be directly involved after many years of being just a user and silent supporter in the Amateur Satellite Service. It's an interest I have held since OSCAR-I gave out its first HI - and its not just the satellites that have increased in complexity, what I wouldn't have given to have the station I now use back in those early days, hand made predictions, manual data collection, make-shift audio systems - all to collect the most basic of data. Best wishes to all for a healthy and successful 2008. 73, Terry, ZL3QL - President AMSAT-ZL (AMSAT LM166)

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Disregard - question on GPredict
by Ed Tump 31 Dec '07

31 Dec '07

Folks, Just disregard my last email, I figured it out. Ed

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Re: XPLANET and XEARTH
by Andrew Rich 31 Dec '07

31 Dec '07

I got GPREDICT going instead What a program ! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Rich VK4TEC vk4tec(a)people.net.au <mailto:[email protected]> http://www.tech-software.net -----Original Message----- From: John Heaton [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, 31 December 2007 5:35 AM To: vk4tec(a)people.net.au Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] XPLANET and XEARTH -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 30 Dec 2007, at 17:27, Andrew Rich wrote: > How do I get Predict and earthtrack to work ? First the command options for xplanet have changed over the years, and earthtrack may not have kept in step. I had a play around with xplanet running on its own and it can produce similar graphics to the xplanet/predict combination. http://www.phers.co.uk/content/view/69/76/ John -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.3 (Darwin) iD8DBQFHd/LuDwhbGQHPUt0RAoztAJ44FWH63xyDGvqubd8XNrgt+GML0gCfZYsh wQ7pg1WLsKZIUO1f2Lp4dPQ= =XNQC -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Users of GPredict
by Ed Tump 31 Dec '07

31 Dec '07

Folks, Anyone using this on Windows? If so how did you get it installed? 73, Ed KC9GWK Grid EN52 AmSat Member

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Re: broadcast FM
by Scott Smith 30 Dec '07

30 Dec '07

Hi, thanks to all the help from everyone. Robin i will take your advice and check first for local interference. Ron, i have been so busy teaching (guitar) that i've not had time. After the New Year i hope to spend more time to myself and be on the satellite. In the meantime.. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year. de ve6itv Scott

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Extra OLPC?
by Jeff Kelly 30 Dec '07

30 Dec '07

If you have an extra OLPC for sale I would be interested in it. Jeff KT2K

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SKN via Satellite
by John Marranca, Jr 30 Dec '07

30 Dec '07

Happy New Year!!! Just a query to the AMSAT-BB members regarding Straight Key Night... Anyone working some old fashioned CW on New Years' ??? John KB2HSH -- _______________________________ John Marranca, Jr PBX Technician/Shop Steward CWA Local 1122 BN Systems, Inc Orchard Park, NY (716)972-2006

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Re: now, 1.5 Lptops Per Child : power options?
by Bob Bruninga 30 Dec '07

30 Dec '07

> What alternative power options are being > provided with the OLPCs? > Hand crank? Solar panel? foot pedal? Only a universal wall-wart. 100-250 V input gives 1.2 amps out at 12 volts. bob

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